Report to the Commissioner No. 43

Got Chapter 71 and 72. Word Count: 53,712

Here’s a clue. Yes, the SecNav and the Damocles file on the table happened, but what mattered was what it did to Anna Jane to see the file on the table. Her face goes white. She looks like she’s seen a ghost. Murder and walking spirits.

It’s not what happens. It’s how it affects the characters, helps them evolve.

Another clue: enter through the amygdala is always good. Memory and emotion.

Start with an image. Write within the image.

Got a new ending that made me cry.

 

Report to the Commissioner No. 41

Chapters 66, 67, and 68 done. Word count: 49,446

Mapped out Chapter 68 by pulling notes from my various subject files and spent a week trying to make it work, finally realized it was an infodump that existed solely so I could fill in character background notes, so I dismantled it and absorbed the material back into my subject files.

Got a new Chapter 68 by relying on the Sorkin formula: Intention + Obstacle = Conflict.

Then I made the same mistake for Chapter 69, which is where I am now. I’ve realized it mostly exists so I can fill in some balonium accompanied by some handwavium, so I’m stuck again. Losing confidence in my ability to write. Wondering how I justify my continued existence as a human being. Questioning how I will emerge from this dark night of the soul. Asking myself why, why, why don’t I clean the bathroom.

A writer’s life.

Report to the Commissioner No. 37

One more pathetic, measly little chapter done this week. Word count: 36,653

My book built an impenetrable wall around itself and wouldn’t let me in for most of the  week. Forced to confront my many sins: (1) using dialogue for exposition; (2) explaining and explaining; (3) repeating the same explanations over and over. Resulting in new rules: (1) don’t use dialogue for exposition, along with forget about that information you’re trying to convey and “kill your darlings;” (2) if you’re going to repeat the same information, show it from a different POV, per Le Carre, circle back in an interesting way, don’t just repeat the same information. Which leads me to realize that I didn’t show it from a particular POV in the first place, just recited the facts.

Don’t explain. Don’t repeat. Don’t use dialogue for exposition.

The good news is that once I stopped trying to write Martin Shepherd’s dialogue for exposition, he sprang to life and revealed some interesting things about himself. The lesson is, let the story tell you how to tell it. Let the characters speak for themselves.

 

Report to the Commissioner No. 36

One pathetic, measly little chapter done this week. Stuck all week on Chapter Fifty, got it done, and now stuck on Chapter 51. Gone is the mojo of yesteryear.

Watched an amazing production of The Little Drummer Girl and lost in awe of Le Carre and also plan to watch it again, take notes, and analyze it. The way he shows you a scene and later revisits that scene from a different perspective, how he uses this to reveal the magic trick at the heart of the story. The theatre of the real.

Captivated by the writing and the characters on Chicago PD and thankful for multiple re-runs. Watching it out of sequence fractures the timeline in an interesting way. I wish I had the guts to attempt something like that.

 

Report to the Commissioner No. 35

Satyagraha.  Truth Force.

On Chapter Fifty of the Fourth Draft. Spent the past week down in the guts of the plot rearranging things and tidying up. A whole new beat sheet, iteration after iteration. Almost there, not quite ready to start writing again. I know there are still patches up ahead where I’ve just sketched in the action. I know there are places in the first half of this draft where the logic and sequence are off, and it will need some edits and a fifth draft. Not that bad, though. Not a complete shambles.